


Marooned in Not-Vesta

by SettlerofCatarrh (orphan_account)



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Artificial Intelligence, Bathing/Washing, F/M, Holodeck, Massage, Mud, Partial Nudity, malfunction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-03-20
Updated: 2010-03-20
Packaged: 2017-10-08 04:16:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/72593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/SettlerofCatarrh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One lives seven years.  The other, centuries.  They have more in common than you might think.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Marooned in Not-Vesta

Kes rolled her neck and shoulders as she entered the holodeck. The Vesta hot springs simulation would be a welcome treat for her stiff joints. As she started keying it in, she saw another relaxation program in the Recently Accessed list. She had never seen the name before and, curious, hit Start.

With a shimmer, a new setting appeared: a clearing in a forest, steam rising from a mud bath, three hot water pools, and a hot sand pit. A Trill and an Andorian had the place to themselves, mud up to their shoulders. They didn't immediately address Kes, so she decided they were probably autogenerated masseuses or entertainers rather than guides. She stripped to her camisole and briefs and stepped into the mud bath, placing her folded uniform, boots, and communicator on a tree stump a few feet away.

Kes only realized upon stepping in that it was a cozy fit for three people; her foot touched something cool and toe-shaped. "Sorry, it's a little tight in here," the Trill woman smiled. "I'm Jadzia. What's your name?"

"I'm Kes."

"Are you a human? Not to pry or anything, but I'm just curious."

"I'm an Ocampa. You're a Trill, right?"

"The spots always give it away! And it's not hard to guess about my friend Bran here." Jadzia patted the Andorian's head, tickling around his antennae. "I discovered him here in this simulation, ready to rub away all my worries, but he'd never just sat in the mud and really tried to relax himself. So I made him sit still and let me do all the rubbing." Jadzia moved her hand down to caress Bran's neck. Kes thought she saw some movement in the mud in front of Bran, but she couldn't be sure.

"I get such cold hands and feet," Jadzia continued. "But this program just warms me right up."

Kes wasn't sure what to say. Most holocharacters didn't say that they were simulated, except in those weird art shows. "This is my first time in this program," she tentatively offered.

"Oh, mine too! But I've been having such a great time that I even tried to do a full 4-D save to my personal dataspace." Jadzia slowed her stroking of Bran's neck; her other hand emerged, spreading a handful of mud up Bran's cheek and onto the top of his head. His antennae stiffened and his eyes glazed as he inhaled deeply. "I'm not sure if it worked, though. I'll have to get Quark or Miles to troubleshoot it. Once I'm done having fun here, that is." Her finger twirled over Bran's slippery pate, tracing a spiral.

"Who's Quark and Miles?" Kes asked. "I thought I knew all the crew."

Jadzia's hands stopped. "Chief O'Brien? And the guy who runs this bar? How did you even get to the holosuites if you don't know Quark?"

"Holo-SUITES? On Voyager?"

"Voyager?!" After a moment, Jadzia's face broke into a devilish grin. "Well, this IS delicious! I DID save. I just included one free Lieutenant Commander Jadzia Dax. And I didn't have room in my dataspace, so it got saved to the cloudserver, where they keep the EMH and stuff like that. And somehow the file got to you, on the Voyager."

Kes relaxed. Another holodeck malfunction, another sorta-sentient hologram -- this she was used to.

"The EMH is going to love it when he meets you," she said, shaking her head.

"You've made some interesting modifications if you can say that, I'm guessing." Jadzia settled back into the mud, squirming contentedly.

"Well, he has, mostly. I think he'll find it rewarding to talk with...someone like you."

Jadzia frowned. "You mean a Trill? A gorgeous, charming, and available woman? A top-flight scientist? Or are you just objectifying me, now, because to you I'm just a hologram?"

Kes stuttered. Jadzia broke into a laugh.

"I'm just kidding. Actually it's pretty freeing to know I'm not in charge any more. Anything I do gets wiped away when you end the program."

"Well, with the EMH's help, we could change that," Kes began.

"No, this is great!" Jadzia said with a broad smile. "For once, my symbiont isn't watching and recording all my thoughts and actions for the next n hundred years! I can--" She stopped, seeing Kes's face drop.

"I...I only wish I could feel...the thing you feel such joy in throwing away," Kes said, eyes on the mud. "We Ocampa only live for about seven years. You...the real Jadzia, I mean...she's immortal, compared to me. When I die, everything I WAS is just going to...die in space. And I can't stop feeling morbid about it."

She felt a cool hand on her chin and looked up. Jadzia had moved closer and was looking into her eyes.

"I'm going to tell you the obvious thing now, and I think you know it's true." Jadzia cupped Kes's cheek. "Your life, now, is what you do with every moment of it. Every second is a lifetime that never comes again, whether those memories stay or go. And if you pursue your heart's desire, every moment of your life, then seven years won't feel too short...or a millennium too long."

Kes breathed deep, willing herself not to look away from the kindness in Jadzia's eyes. Her heart lifted, and Jadzia must have seen her eyes crinkle with happiness, because she sat back and chuckled. "Besides, when you think like THAT, you never get in the right mood for fun! Right, Bran?"

Bran smiled at Jadzia and started massaging her shoulders. Jadzia let out a good-natured puff. "Ah, that's my Bran. Solving every problem with shiatsu."

"You want to hand him over here?" Kes grinned.

"Sure! Bran, go get some kinks out of young Kes there -- but not too many!" Jadzia winked.

Bran shifted position in the bath, motioning that Kes should turn around and lift her torso from the mud. She rested her elbows on the soft grass, her back to the bath. She felt Bran's hands clearing most of the mud from her shoulders and back, leaving her back with a thin slippery sheen, never quite stroking past her cleft but not quite stopping above it, either.

Bran moved his head to Kes's shoulder and started brushing his antennae over her back -- in a scanning pattern, she realized. He was sensing and easing micro-tension in the individual muscles! The tingling only increased as she felt the mud compress on her legs. Bran's body was pressing closer to her back, his fingers joining his antennae in massaging her back. Kes involuntarily arched, and heard Jadzia chuckle in recognition.

As her higher motor and critical faculties blissfully shorted out, Kes's last conscious thought was, _Who WAS it who accessed this program recently? I hope it was B'Elanna, because then I don't have to report ANY of this..._


End file.
